First Steps (Founding of the Federation) Page 6

  How large?" Nick asked amused.

  "One hundred million," Wendy replied.

  "You're kidding me!" Nick's eyebrows rose comically and then he turned to her as everyone goggled. "One hundred million?!"

  She nodded. "For the first mission. It has to be in plain sight, and seen by camera's at least three times a day," she said, checking the note. Luigi whistled softly.

  "We'll get some headache from the hill Luigi..." Zubrin cautioned.

  "If it cuts down on cost?" Nick asked. "Still, I'm not too happy about being someone's poster child, whoring myself to get the money," he sighed.

  Mario chuckled. "Let's face it; we'd sell our own grandmother's to make this work if we had too," he said. Some of the people looked startled at that.

  Luigi shook his head. "I wouldn't tell Nana that, she's put you over her knee in a second." Most of the staff chuckled.

  Mario snorted. "Yeah, okay, wrong analogy. But hey, if we can raise a couple hundred mil... I have no problem with looking like a NASCAR driver." He held up his hand. "As long as we the astronauts aren't forced to do promo work. Trying to get out ads every time we open our mouths would get old fast."

  Luigi chuckled. "Welcome to Mars sponsored by Nextel and Cotex where we will be bringing you...blah blah blah...”

  Mario chuckled. "Yeah. Forget crap like that or using something if we don't like it." He smiled. “Of course if it is sex related...” He started to joke.

  Luigi sighed. “Don't even go there, God what a can of worms that would open up!” He covered his face with his hands.

  Mario chuckled. “Still, the voluntary thing is important,” Mario replied as he looked at his brother.

  Luigi nodded. "Okay Wendy, make a note of that," he ordered looking at her.

  Wendy nodded. "You want to explore this some more?" Luigi turned to Doctor Zubrin who reluctantly nodded.

  "Go for it."

  Luigi nodded. "Go for it the man said. Final approval is by the heads of the program so don't let them bully or bribe you," he ordered Wendy.

  She grimaced. "So I don't get to keep the brand new Porsche?" she asked. His eyes widened.

  "Kidding boss," she chuckled, hands up.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario adjusted his lapel microphone and sighed. "Mike test, one two...three...” He looked up to the com tech that had her hand to her Mickey Mouse earphones. She gave him a thumbs up and then rushed off.

  "You've got some shine on your checks," a makeup artist said as she came in and tapped at his cheek.

  "What the heck?" Mario muttered.

  "Just go with it bro," Luigi sighed. He after all was used to it by now. He shook hands with the anchor and then sat down, adjusting his coat. He crossed his legs and placed his hands on the armrests.

  "Yeah yeah," Mario grumbled before he sat down and mimicked his brother.

  "Relax; you look like you have a stick up your ass," Luigi murmured.

  Mario started to round on him but the director called "Show time in five...four...three..." He then started counting down with his fingers. The anchor sat up straight and gave a trademark smile for the cameras.

  "And we're back with two young men remaking the space exploration field." He turned to them. "Ladies and gentlemen, the Irons brothers, or as some have started to call them, the Super Mario brothers."

  Luigi smiled politely. Mario chuckled softly. "Gentlemen, let’s begin by saying what a pleasure it is to have you on the show," the anchor said. Mario and Luigi murmured polite thanks. "Now, we're going over the current Mars initiative and we have polled our viewers, let's start with a question from Rachael in Ponduke Michigan who asks about how you like living in your little brother's shadow, does it make you uncomfortable?"

  Mario chuckled. "No. I came to accept having a genius, know it all pain in the neck side kick a long time ago."

  Luigi chuckled. "See what I get to put up with?" he asked. The anchor smiled politely.

  "In all honesty I am proud of my brother, for showing us all up. For pushing the envelope and not giving up..." Mario finished.

  "Why thank you." Luigi looked at him, looking genuinely touched.

  "Moving on, Nathan in Seattle writes..."

  At the end of the interview Mario got up and stretched. "Thank you gentlemen for a stimulating interview," the producer said as he shook both of their hands. "Good luck on Mars. Ms. Elliot will show you out." He waved to an assistant who nodded.

  "Right this way gentlemen," she said. She waved them to the exit.

  Mario chuckled. "Can't get rid of us fast enough can they?" he murmured taking the microphone off and handing it to a tech.

  "Hush," Luigi responded removing his mike.

  "God I hate playing dress up," Mario grumped.

  "All for a good cause, all for a good cause," Luigi chuckled.

  "It'd better be," Mario sighed.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "Okay people; let’s settle down, we have a lot to go over in this work shop. The first thing is our in situ plant," Luigi said. Luigi pulled up a flimsy and put it on the projector then looked up. "As you can see, we've made some changes from the original Zubrin Martin Marietta Sabatier reactor. First we've added a turbo compressor intake." He circled the block in red. "This compresses the native atmosphere. About fifty percent of the water trapped in the air is compressed out to be stored for later use." He drew a line to the water tanks. "Now, the remaining compressed atmosphere is fed into the Sabatier reactor with hydrogen to be converted into a host of material using the Reverse Water Gas Shift method, also known as RWGS."

  He looked up at the group. He'd gone over this with different groups, some caught on right away, and others just didn't get it. He could tell by their expressions. "With the reactors first stage and a hydrogen carbon dioxide/monoxide mix we can produce methane, carbon, and water. With it feeding double the hydrogen and running it through a second stage we can produce ethylene and water." Some murmured at this. "We are of course shooting for the ethylene; with it our refrigeration budget is quartered." The murmuring increased.

  "Okay, save your comments for later folks," he ordered. He looked around as the room quieted. "Ethylene will be used by the vehicles as well as the rockets. Now, we can also get nitrogen and argon out of the reactor, and if we mix the nitrogen in with hydrogen we can get ammonia for manufacturing and the greenhouses." He nodded.

  "With this equipment we can change a planet. Now, I want to go over the weight matrix in a moment, but we need to work on expanding the plant for future programs. You're hand out packet has that. We will break into smaller focus groups in a moment. Now Benny has some words about the focus group teams so give him a moment of your time."

  He stepped back and Benny stood and nodded. "Thanks boss but you kind of took some of the wind from my sails," he smiled wryly. "Nick and Julia are going to keep an overall eye on things. Dennis, you can look into expanding the industrial, Michelle and Bobby, the medical...."

  "One of the biggest problems in space is the smell. It isn't just the smell of sweat, but also ozone and a metallic taste that doesn't go away. The cyclers, habs, space stations, suits, rovers, everything will get that smell over time," The NASA veteran astronaut explained as he sat on a stool.

  Mario grimaced. "I guess Lysol or Febreeze doesn't have a spray that can handle it," he grimaced.

  "Neither has Glade. Be glad, your sense of smell can save your life. Try not to ignore the smells, they may be important. The smell of burning objects, or water, or waste..." the astronaut shrugged. He resented not being on the team but did a good job of hiding it. Of course he was nearly sixty, and this was a younger man's game.

  "Yeah, I get it. And if we can identify the problem, we can fix it," Mario sighed.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  The Hab's livable space was divided into two floors. The top floor was the living space, complete with bedrooms, bathroom, galley kitchenette, wardroom living space, and an exercise room. The second floor was spli
t into two labs. Hab one had the chemistry and general purpose lab. Hab two, the lab they would be traveling to Mars had a sickbay and geology lab. Through the core of the hab was an airlock trunk. The top was the storm shelter in case of radiation. A second airlock on the bottom floor and could be used to get outside, or connect to the other hab modules.

  "What about a hover craft?" A tech asked. They were still getting off the wall ideas. Ideas that the various project groups talked about during meetings when they had to wait on something or other.

  "Get real, no way it would work on Mars!" another sighed tossing a balled up piece of paper at the first.

  "Well, this is a brainstorming session, so let's try to stay positive," Luigi nodded to the first tech. "Roger right?"

  The young man nodded. "Yes sir, I was thinking, we have a pretty good engine, and Mar's has an atmosphere, so if we built a hover craft..."

  Mario nodded. "Right. Okay we'll log it for later discussion." He waved to the next person with an idea. After the bull session he met up with Luigi.

  "Think the hover craft idea will fly?" Luigi asked as they walked down the corridor.

  Mario shook his head firmly. "Not a chance, it uses most of its energy just to float and maintain its cushion of air. You don't need that with a wheeled vehicle."

  He dodged a pair of engineers and followed his brother down the hall. "So we can write it off?" Luigi asked.

  "Not just yet, I'd dump it in the nutty idea bin though, nice, but not worth throwing money at. Stick to critical systems first." Mario nodded as Betsy waved.

  "See ya." Luigi smiled over his shoulder as he waved to Betsy. Mario chuckled as Wanda came out following Betsy.

  "Will wonders never cease," Mario muttered. He shook his head.

  "What?" Wanda asked coming up to him.

  "Nothin, just admiring the view," He gave her a look and slight leer. She preened.

  She smiled. "Like what you see?" she teased.

  "Love it," he teased back.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario watched as the piston articulated in and out. "Compressed CO two?" he asked. He looked over to the grinning tech who nodded.

  "Yeah, we can do a lot with this! Pneumatics could replace a lot of things; we can build a walker, or build an exosuit!" He was excited and started pulling up images. "See we can use the exosuit Darpa has been studying, there is a guy building armor we could use too..."

  Mario sighed. "Wait, why armor?" he asked. He raised a hand.

  The tech's eyes glazed. "Um, ah..."

  Mario nodded. "Right. There isn't a reason. We don't need armor, we're not going into battle, and an e-frame is a bit much, we're going to be in a gravity field forty percent that of Earth's!" The tech visibly deflated. "Now, right up your report, and we will keep it on file for possible future missions to high G planets. Pneumatics are a good idea, much better than hydraulics for some applications. Using native materials makes it dead easy to top off too. Good work." He patted the techs shoulder and then left shaking his head. "Pie in the sky...where do they come up with these people?" he muttered as he sighed and shut the door behind him.

  ...*...*...*...*...

  "Why is so much hardware needed? Why, only a handful of this will ever make it to Mars!" the senator complained.

  "Well, some of it will be used for training, driving, or for repairs," Mario answered slowly. This was a familiar complaint. You'd think by now people would read the memo or at least listen to the answer when someone else asked.

  "We plan on sending samples of each to the Arctic research station for testing as well. We need to know where things will break before it gets to Mars," Luigi added shooting his brother a warning look. They needed the Senator in a good mood and more importantly on their side.

  "Also, some of this is for the educational program," Doctor Zubrin added.

  "Educational program?" Senator Byrd asked looking confused.

  Doctor Zubrin nodded. "Yes, we have a program where astronauts and technicians go to different schools, museums, and events like the LA county fair and show people the equipment to interest them in science, engineering, and space exploration," Doctor Zubrin replied.

  "It gives the public a hands on look at the hardware, and a face to face meeting with the men and women who will be going to Mars," Luigi added.

  "It is also a good diplomatic effort; we will open the educational program to participating countries as well," Mario added. The senator's eyes narrowed.

  "Most of the teams will be here in the states, but we will send one team to each region. They will spend a few weeks in each country or region, then move on to the next," Luigi explained trying to smooth the problem over.

  The senator grunted. "You’re going to start it here in the states?"

  All three men nodded. "Starting in the states where most of the hardware is produced. We will show the children of the parents who designed and built the hardware what their parents have been building, and then move out around the country," Mario explained. Mario pulled out a map.

  "You say you’re doing this in my home state?" the senator asked.

  "Yes sir, starting next month. We have over forty appearances planned. We are working with school districts to bus classes to a centralized site so they can view the hardware," Mario explained.

  "Get my staff a schedule. I may want to come around and take a look at this," the senator stood. Hastily all three men followed suit.

  "Thank you senator, we are looking forward to the tour. Hopefully we can give you a chance to drive one of the rovers," Doctor Zubrin replied.

  "I'd like that," the Senator chuckled. "It'd make a great photo op." He waved. "Keep up the good work gentlemen." He turned and left. Outside the door his staff descended around him.

  Luigi sat down with a sigh. "Reelection?" he asked Zubrin.

  "Yeah. He needs all the help and publicity he can get. I'm not happy about being used, but if it gets us closer to the goal..." He raised his hands helplessly. Both of the Irons brothers grimaced.

  "Yeah, whatever works," they replied in unison. Zubrin chuckled.

  · Chapter 3

  Testing:

  "So what is this all about?" Mario asked as he stood by Luigi. His younger brother had a set of sunglasses on and was shielding his eyes as he looked skyward.

  "Drop test. One quarter scale. We're testing the MAV sink rate, stall, chute deployment, landing gear, and retro thrusters," he responded. "Tomorrow we are doing the Hab, two days later the SSTO." The first test flights with the rocket had gone over well, without a hitch. They were still digesting the sensory data now.

  Mario nodded. "Got it all planned out right?"

  Luigi nodded. "There's the C-5 now." He pointed. "Wish I had my binoculars," he grumbled. He'd forgotten them in the car in his excitement. A pair was thrust in front of his face. He reared back and then took them. "Ah thanks," he replied.

  "No problem." He turned to see Betsy, the New Zealand geologist. "Betsy right?" Luigi asked.

  "You should know by now," she teased. He sighed.

  "The Mario brothers are known for their engineering skills, not their ability to remember names or their social skills," Wanda teased hugging her husband. They'd gotten married in a small ceremony and this was their honeymoon. Mario had teased her about having a real honeymoon on Mars.

  "Unless it is game related of course," Mario responded, watching the aircraft.

  "There she goes!" Luigi pointed. They all looked as the MAV fell. "Damn, like a rock." Luigi watched through the binoculars. "There is the drag chute... and the mains... Okay she's slowing..."

  They watched as the craft swung back and forth like a pendulum and then suddenly the chute fluttered off and it sank like a stone. "Damn! It’s going to smear itself all over the desert!" Mario groaned.

  "Nope. It was supposed to do that," Luigi replied, not taking his eyes off the craft. He was surprised though that his brother didn't know about this part. "Three... two... one... There's the retro's."
The retros fired, making a few blink away.

  "Brighter than I thought. I'm glad you brought doctors McKay, Newman, and Hudson on board," Zubrin replied from behind them. Mario turned and nodded to him then returned to watching the craft. Gently the craft slowed to a stop in the air, then drifted to one side, tipped, then straightened and drifted back.

  "Well, maneuvering works," Mario chuckled.

  The craft began to fall faster. "Looks like it is running low on fuel though," Luigi cautioned. He should have known, the ham handed twits in the control room had pushed it too hard grandstanding and now it was coming down. The press was going to have a field day.

  "Yup." The craft's flares died out a few meters above the ground. It fell like a stone. Mario winced as the landing gear pistoned until the thrusters were crushed. "Please don't spring... Please don't..." The craft came back up and bounced teetered then fell to the ground.

  "Damn!" Luigi dropped the glasses from his face and slapped his thigh with his cap. He was going to ream some ass he vowed.

  "Crap!" Mario echoed.

  "I think that was more the fault of the crew then the craft," Zubrin observed. "They left it for too long and misjudged her," he sighed. "Going to catch some flack though," he said shaking his head.

  "Not to mention we just lost a prototype and all its recording hardware," Luigi sighed. "Going back to Congress with our cap in our hand is going to suck." He shook his head clearly frustrated.

  Zubrin patted his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It was a success anyway."

  ...*...*...*...*...

  Mario scowled at the selection of tiles. "Why tile? And white?" He shook his head.

  The psychologist stared at him. "We determined white is the optimal color for the floor based on exhaustive case studies. The tile is for easy cleaning."

  Mario grimaced. "You've obviously never cleaned tile then."

  Betsy Lawless grimaced. Mario looked over to her. She shrugged. "We had tile in my home. It was a pain to clean; the grout sucks up dirt and traps it," she explained.